The company says it complements existing network attached storage (NAS) by centralizing massive pools of memory that serve data 10-to-50 times faster than mechanical disks, eliminating I/O bottlenecks and hotspots. vCache expands to 15TB of useable cache and delivers over 300,000 NFS operations per second over eight 10GbE ports and supports current NAS features such as snapshots and deduplication. It uses a combination of DRAM and Flash memory, and is priced from $40,000 - under $1 per NFS operation/sec.

Storage analysts are impressed by the offering. Jim Bagley, senior analyst, SSG-Now, calls the announcement significant from several standpoints. "First, the integration of the Gear6 acquisition into the memory array provides a NAS capability with a very large amount of high speed Flash storage. This means that Violin arrays can be deployed as a front end for filers and can hold large data sets without having to access rotating media. There is also a cloud storage play because the memory array can provide high speed access to cached data while using a lower speed link to the cloud."

He adds that the company has aggregation capabilities that are unique, and with the Gear6 software, has greatly enhanced its position in the high speed memory array market, providing both SAN and NAS capabilities. "It is important to note that the Violin array provides Flash at a lower cost per TB than drive format SSDs.

Gartner's Joe Unsworth, research director, says Violin is providing a comprehensive and flexible flash memory array solution with robust performance and reliability at very aggressive price-points compared to more established competitors. "Violin's management of flash from a system and SSD perspective allows its memory array to have robust reliability and highly compelling performance. The aggressive price/GB for their solution can be enticing for customers but represents challenges for smaller competitors."